LONDON, July 14: Tiger Woods is no longer the automatic choice of bookmakers and punters. British company Ladbrokes are among four major firms to make Ernie Els favourite at 6-1 or 13-2 to win the British Open which starts at Royal Troon on Thursday.

It is the first time in around four years Woods has not uniformly started favourite in any of the majors. Several companies have Els and Woods as 7-1 joint favourites but only Hills side with the American, quoting Woods at 6-1 ahead of his South African rival at 7-1.

Defending champion, American Ben Curtis, on offer at 300-1 before the 2003 Open, is at 150-1 to retain his crown. Ladbrokes bet: 6-1 Ernie Els 8-1 Tiger Woods 14-1 Phil Mickelson 16-1 Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia 25-1 Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington, Stephen Ames 33-1 Adam Scott, Darren Clarke 40-1 Jim Furyk 50-1 Chad Campbell, Fredrik Jacobson, Mike Weir, Robert

Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Colin Montgomerie 66-1 David Toms, K.J. Choi, Kenny Perry, Lee Westwood, Michael Campbell, Shigeki Maruyama, Thomas Bjorn 80-1 David Howell, Ian Poulter, Justin Leonard, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Nick Price, Paul Casey, Trevor Immelman, Thomas Levet 100-1 and upwards others. -Reuters